A congressional act? Washington shouldn't steer away I-80 tolls

Christine Baker, The Patriot-News/2007Traffic on westbound Interstate 80 between Snow Shoe and Dubois, Pa.We often lament that state lawmakers are not willing to make tough decisions.

In the case of tolling Interstate 80, however, that is exactly what they did. Act 44, which calls for tolling the highway running across the center of our state, was overwhelmingly approved by 61 percent of House members and 60 percent of Senate members in 2007.

Lawmakers rightfully saw that this difficult decision had to be made to finance our ever-increasing transportation needs in Pennsylvania. The measure created a state-generated solution to a statewide problem.

Despite all of this bipartisan support for tolling I-80 and the fact that the state has moved ahead with a funding formula that includes it, we have not yet received approval from the Federal Highway Administration.

But as we wait, there is a nasty rumor that in our nation’s capital the issue might be in danger of being hijacked away from state officials.

Pennsylvania congressional opponents are fighting hard to get the Obama administration to turn down the tolling idea.

This despite repeated pleas from Pennsylvania’s governor and top legislative leaders that opposing the I-80 tolling will cripple our state’s ability to take care of our roads and bridges.

As House Speaker Keith McCall said recently in a letter to U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, it is difficult to believe the federal government “would effectively ‘veto’ the wishes of our state Legislature and Gov. Edward Rendell, who signed Act 44 into law.”

We would like to add that it also seems unbelievable that some of our own congressional members would so actively go against the wishes of a majority of state officials on a state-funding issue.

What is worse is the misinformation — to put it nicely — that is being spread in rural parts of the state. Money from tolling I-80 will not go toward paying mass transit costs in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, or anywhere else, as opponents warn. That money comes from tolls on the mainline of the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

In the meantime, we in central Pennsylvania and all along the turnpike corridor, are now paying an increased share of our state’s transportation costs.

Part of Act 44 also included the tolls on the turnpike increasing to help pay for state transportation needs. In the end, two-thirds of all Act 44 funds will come from the turnpike system. The remainder will come from I-80 tolls.

The Pennsylvania Turnpike estimates that 60 percent to 80 percent of all I-80 passenger cars will not pay a toll, something else opponents dispute.

With I-80 tolling, Pennsylvania could self-finance 45 percent of the interstate system. Hard to imagine Congress will help fill that void if I-80 is not tolled. It recently missed — yet again — a deadline to enact a six-year transportation revenue package.

The bottom line is this: Starting in fiscal year 2011 — from this July 1 — the Pennsylvania Turnpike will pay $922.5 million to the state for transportation costs. That number will rise each year if there is tolling on I-80 or it will drop to a flat $450 million a year for 47 years if there are no tolls. The difference is $60 billion over the lifetime of the agreement — $60 billion.

To get a sense of how big the funding need is in Pennsylvania consider that Act 44 money is just enough to maintain our roads at acceptable levels of maintenance, to use a government term. It doesn’t even begin to pay for constructing roads, new lanes or providing more capacity.

This is a state issue and the state officials we elected made the decision on how to fund it. Congressional opponents should not work to block this plan, unless, of course, they have a way to give the state an average of $1 billion annually for the next 47 years.